2025 Buffalo mayoral election

← 2021

November 4, 2025


Party	Democratic

Incumbent Mayor

Christopher Scanlon (acting)
Democratic

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The 2025 Buffalo mayoral election will be held on November 4, 2025. Incumbent acting mayor Christopher Scanlon is running for a full term in office. Scanlon succeeded longtime mayor Byron Brown after he became the CEO of Western Regional Off-Track Betting.^[1]

Democratic primary

[edit]

Declared

[edit]

Michael Gainer, nonprofit founder^[2]
James McLeod, retired Buffalo City Court judge^[3]
James Payne, community activist^[4]
Sean Ryan, state senator from the 61st district^[5]
Christopher Scanlon, acting mayor^[6]
Garnell Whitfield, former Buffalo Fire Commissioner^[7]
Rasheed Wyatt, common councilor from the University district^[8]

Publicly expressed interest

[edit]

Zeneta Everhart, common councilor from the Masten district^[9]
Leah Halton-Pope, common councilor from the Ellicott district^[9]
Terrance Heard, former Buffalo Public Schools board member^[10]^[11]
Terrance Robinson, community activist and Green nominee for mayor in 2017^[12]

Potential

[edit]

Timothy Hogues, president of the New York State Civil Service Commission^[10]

Declined

[edit]

India Walton, community organizer and nominee for mayor in 2021^[13]

Republican primary

[edit]

Potential

[edit]

Michael Kearns, Erie County Clerk^[11]

Independents

[edit]

Withdrawn

[edit]

Ryan Caughill, emergency preparedness consultant^[14] (endorsed Whitfield)^[15]

References

[edit]

^ Joly, Aidan (September 30, 2024). "Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown to leave office in October". WIVB-TV. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
^ Williams, Deidre (January 20, 2025). "Community activist Michael Gainer joins growing list of hopefuls for Buffalo mayor". The Buffalo News. Retrieved January 20, 2025.
^ Joly, Aidan (December 13, 2024). "Mayoral candidate James McLeod pushing work with youth as part of bid". WIVB-TV. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
^ Joly, Aidan (December 17, 2024). "Community organizer whose brother died in blizzard running for mayor". WIVB-TV. Retrieved December 17, 2024.
^ Skoog, Katie (November 23, 2024). "State Senator Sean Ryan announces run for Buffalo mayor". WIVB-TV. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
^ Sondel, Justin (January 22, 2025). "Scanlon officially joins mayor's race in Buffalo". Buffalo News. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
^ Williams, Deidre (December 3, 2024). "Former Fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield enters campaign for Buffalo mayor". The Buffalo News. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
^ Sondel, Justin (December 9, 2024). "And then there were 3: Council Member Rasheed Wyatt enters Buffalo mayor's race". The Buffalo News. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
^ ^a ^b Williams, Deidre (September 14, 2024). "City Hall insiders considering running for mayor". The Buffalo News. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
^ ^a ^b Kelly, Geoff (September 12, 2024). "Who will be Buffalo's next mayor? Potential candidates line up". Investigative Post. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
^ ^a ^b Sondel, Justin (January 16, 2025). "Bid to replace Buffalo's longest-serving mayor likely to be chaotic". The Buffalo News. Retrieved January 16, 2025. Activist Terry Robinson, Buffalo ReUse co-founder Michael Gainer and former School Board member Terrance Heard also have asked the Democrats for their endorsement, but have not formally announced that they are running.
^ Whalen, Ryan (December 5, 2024). "Democratic Committee interviews prospective Buffalo mayor candidates". Spectrum News. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
^ Nir, David; Singer, Jeff (December 9, 2024). "Morning Digest: We preview three of next year's top races for mayor". The Downballot. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
^ Healy, Amber (November 26, 2024). "Race To Be the Next Mayor of Buffalo Is Heating Up". We are Buffalo. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
^ Caughill, Ryan [@RyanMCaughill] (December 13, 2024). "I am excited to publicly endorse @Garnell4Buffalo to be the next Mayor of the City of Buffalo!" (Tweet). Retrieved December 14, 2024 – via Twitter.

External links

[edit]

Official campaign websites

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